Zenyatta and other closers · 16.04.10

Only those who have been living under a rock for the last week don’t know that Zenyatta scored her 16th consecutive victory last Friday in Oaklawn’s Apple Blossom Invitational Stakes. It doesn’t seem to matter what the other horses throw at Zenyatta — whether the pace is fast or slow, there she’ll be at the top of the stretch, sweeping around the field and running down the leaders. The big race-mare is at the top of her game, and is perhaps the greatest modern example of that most exciting of racehorses: the deep closer.

What race fan doesn’t love watching a horse come out of nowhere like a whirlwind and snatch victory at the wire (unless of course that horse catches the one you’ve bet twenty dollars on the nose)? However, for several important reasons such horses are usually the least successful. The stone-cold closer is almost totally dependent on how the race develops in front of it. Early horses set the pace; stalkers can force the pace; closers can only react to the pace in front of them.

An early horse can run away and hide if there’s no other speed in the field. If the jockey does anticipate a late challenge, he can can slow the horse down just enough to conserve the horse’s energy in order to withstand such a challenge. Conversely, horses lying just off the lead can force the pace-setter to run faster than it wants; then as the leader tires, those stalkers will be in the best position to challenge, and will usually have enough stamina to hold off any late challengers.

The confirmed closer usually needs both the early horses and the stalkers to use up all their energy early in the race — early enough to give it enough time to catch them before the finish. Ideally, it should also have some early speed of its own to remain within striking distance of the leaders, as well as enough stamina to maintain that speed as the leading horses tire. Finally, the closer needs luck to avoid getting blocked in traffic, as the lead horses fall back and others also try to move into contention. Normally, all of these things have to happen for a deep closer to have any chance of success — as legendary turf writer Joe Palmer wrote about another great closer, Stymie:

He isn’t versatile…. He can’t make his own pace and he can’t win slow races. He needs something up ahead to draw the speed from the field, to soften it up for his long, sweeping rush at the end. But give him a field with speed in it, at a mile and a half or more, and horses had better get out of his way….

Silky Sullivan is probably the most well-known deep closer in racing history, and certainly the most extreme example. He started each race so far back that, when CBS broadcast the 1958 Kentucky Derby, the network had to use a split screen format to accommodate him. His style made him immensely popular — but it is also true that he finished well back in the Derby. Also, he and Stymie both lost more races than they won.

Among local horses, perhaps the two most notable historical examples of the classic deep closer are Delta Colleen and George Royal. For whatever reason, race-mare Delta Colleen seemed to enjoy dawdling at the back of the pack early in a race. Her regular jockey, Chris Loseth, explained that refused to race any other way. “She has to start her move on her own,” he once said. “I urge her on a little bit, but if I hit her before she wants to start running she will sulk. Once she starts to run, then I can get after her.” Apparently she had trouble duplicating her success away from Hastings and other Western Canadian “bull-rings”. Perhaps she handled turns better than most horses, which would be less of an advantage on a standard one-mile oval — or perhaps Delta Colleen’s closing style made her more vulnerable among stiffer competition away from home.

As for George Royal — still considered the greatest racehorse ever bred in B.C. — it didn’t matter if it was a sprint for two-year-olds on the “nursery course”, or the 14 furlongs of the San Juan Capistrano Handicap. For the first half of any race, “George” could be found in his usual spot at the rear of the field, sometimes as much as 20 lengths off the lead. “He just liked to relax”, co-owner Bob Hall once said. “And he was so relaxed that you could ask him for speed any time. That’s why he could run a sprint or a route — it didn’t matter to him”. Against lesser horses in Vancouver, it didn’t matter how many lengths he spotted the early horses — his superior ability relative to his local rivals made George Royal all but unbeatable. However, once he met horses of his own class in California, his running style put him at a distinct disadvantage.

It is this — the inherent limitations of the closing style, even among some of the great racehorses in history — which makes Zenyatta’s undefeated (to-date) career all the more impressive. She seems to adjust her style to the race, regardless of the pace or what any of the other horses do. The Apple Blossom featured a dawdling early pace — jockey Mike Smith simply asked her for speed a bit earlier, and it was otherwise business as usual. Her success as an undefeated closer is almost unprecedented. Admire her while you still can.

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What do you think?

  1. I was privileged to see Delta Colleen blow by field after field as my jaw dropped.

    The big movers are the most exciting in the game as Lit d’Justice and Aldebaran of late have shown us.

    Who says the females aren’t great? Don’t know if the big meeting between the top two will EVER takes place or not.

    — Dr. T. Yatcak · Apr 16, 09:10 AM · #

  2. Nicely written…Love the deep closer! Hoping Blind Luck and Zenyatta match up…can you think of two Great deep closers running against each other? And how abot the Grey Ghost, Native Dancer! Pretty successful deep closer…missed the Derby by a nose other than that, never beat!

    — Trainer Mike · Sep 18, 05:55 PM · #

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